QUEBEC FOOD SUMMIT
La Coop fédérée supports the Minister’s announcement
Montreal September 6, 2016 – La Coop fédérée welcomes the decision by Pierre Paradis, Ministre de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’alimentation du Québec, to hold a Sommet sur l’alimentation (Food Summit) with a view to a future agri-food policy, as announced today during a press conference.
La Coop fédérée is of the opinion that Québec has the capacity to respond to consumer needs that now favour ethical production, are concerned with sustainable development and produce that is good for their health.
La Coop fédérée intends to participate in this important agri-food forum. “Our producers and members are at the heart of agri-food activities, from production through to the consumer. We know consumers well because, for the last 96 years, we have been feeding them through good times and bad”, emphasized Ghislain Gervais, president of La Coop fédérée.
La Coop fédérée would like, however, to see such an exercise take place within the shortest possible delay. Which is why it has agreed to join with the majority of stakeholders in the agri-food sector on September 14th, in order to lay the groundwork for measures that could be made by the government to improve the budget. Significant cuts have been made in the last few years in order to bring public finances into better balance. At a time when the government wants to relaunch the economy, the actors in the agri-food sector are saying that they are able to contribute advantageously to the economic growth of Québec with some well-targeted measures.
According to a study piloted by the Institut du Québec and published in November 2015, the agri-food industry has contributed as much as $34.3 billion to the Québec economy and allowed 500,000 Quebecers from every region of Québec to contribute toward feeding the world.
About La Coop fédérée
Founded in 1922, La Coop fédérée is the largest agri-food organization in Quebec. It is owned by more than 90,000 members grouped together within 72 cooperatives located across several Canadian provinces and it is present throughout the agri-food chain. As a wholesaler, La Coop fédérée provides agricultural producers with the goods and services necessary for their operations. Its activities are separated into three divisions: Agribusiness (livestock and crop productions, and marketing grains, under the Elite and La Coop brands), Retail and Innovation (energy, hardware and farm machinery under the Sonic, Unimat, BMR, and Agrizone brands), and Meats (under the Olymel, Flamingo and Lafleur brands). La Coop fédérée employs 12,200 people with revenues reaching $5.992 billion. Including its affiliated cooperatives, La Coop fédérée counts more than 18,350 employees and combined revenues of $9.6 billion.
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Source:
Ben-Marc Diendéré
Senior Vice-president - Communications, Public Affairs & Brand Image
Information & requests for interviews:
Marie-Hélène Cliche
Director, Corporate & Web Communications
514-347-5939 | marie-helene.cliche@lacoop.coop